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Mount Mercy celebrates Mercy and Mission Week

Mount Mercy University will celebrate Mercy and Mission week with special events and service projects September 18 – 24. During this week in September, Mount Mercy celebrates its unique heritage and Mercy calling as we live out the call to serve and look to become a leader in values-driven education and outreach. Please join us for special community events that are free and open to the public.

As a Mercy University welcoming to men and women of all faiths, we celebrate a compilation of traditional music and prayer from a variety of traditions and cultures. Join us Tuesday, September 21 at 7:00 p.m. for an Interfaith Music Festival of Prayer in the Chapel of Mercy, Busse Center. The concert will include music from Islam, drumming by Wah ‘la – First Nation Native American, Buddhist, Evangelical Christian, Sufi, Jewish, and religious traditional song in Latin. Join us for a reception immediately following the performance.

The Mercy Day keynote address will be delivered by Sister Mary Waskowiak, RSM, president of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, on September 23 at 7:00 p.m. in the Chapel of Mercy. Her lecture, “Mercy: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” will explore the questions, what does God want of us? Why is mercy needed now more than at any other time? Where do we get it? How will it change us, our church and our world? Please join us for a reception immediately following the lecture.

Sister Mary Waskowiak, a native of California, has served as president of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas since July 2005. Prior to her role as president, Waskowiak served as councilor on the Institute Leadership Team from 1991 to 1999 and as president of the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of Burlingame, California, from 2003 to 2005.

Mercy Day celebrates and honors the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley. It was 182 years ago that Catherine McAuley realized her dream. She spent her inheritance on a house to serve as a refuge for Dublin, Ireland's poor women and children who needed help in gaining skills to provide them with a better life. Opening the doors on September 24, 1827, Catherine called her sanctuary the House of Mercy. Mercy Day is an annual celebration to commemorate the anniversary of this special refuge. While she never set out to establish a religious order, Catherine McAuley's dedication to serving wherever human need exists inspired other women to join her and support the activities. Catherine eventually founded the Sisters of Mercy on December 12, 1831, and the order spread to other countries, eventually planting seeds that led to the founding of Mount Mercy in 1928.